Preference for batch sizes

[Stephe Campbell]

My message count is 35K-50K a day. Spam percentage is about 85-90%. I am
running a P3 900MHz with 1MB ram. RH7.3 sendmail updated to last up2date.

My problem is more with what will make this run like two days ago. I don't
really have a clue about what is causing the slowness.

I have also started adding more to my blacklist file, noting that these have
no spam scores, and assume they are skipped right away. I realize that
adding them to my MTA would be better, but I'm trying to make the
MailScanner part better tuned now.

Steve Campbell
campbell at cnpapers.com
Charleston Newspapers

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Hooton" <david at platformhosting.com>
To: <campbell at CNPAPERS.COM>
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 10:45 AM
Subject: RE: Preference for batch sizes


Hi Steve,

What is your server spec, and how many messages per day are you processing?

Regards,

David Hooton
Senior Partner
Platform Hosting
1300 85 HOST
www.platformhosting.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: MailScanner mailing list [mailto:MAILSCANNER at JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On
> Behalf Of Stephe Campbell
> Sent: Friday, 13 February 2004 2:17 AM
> To: MAILSCANNER at JISCMAIL.AC.UK
> Subject: Preference for batch sizes
>
> We are seeing a real slow down in mail delivery here since yesterday. We
> are
> receiving about 50% more mail, but our system can't seem to keep up. Our
> normal mail count is probably about 35K-50K a day. Spam percentage is
> about
> 85-90%.
>
> I have noticed the last two days a high rate of mail in incoming beginning
> around 10pm until midnight. When I look at my average load, it seems to be
> dropping linearly from 3 down to .6 or something like that. (Can servers
> get
> tired and need a rest?). Large incoming batches were always handled fairly
> quickly before this period, and I'm not sure if we're just slow or are
> receiving a lot of new mail, but based on complaints, mail is slow.
>
> I have two questions:
>
> Would smaller batches of mail be better? I have this set to 100 normally,
> and am testing 50 at the moment. I am guessing that smaller batch sizes
> may
> take less time to process and get them through faster as a batch, but
> overall processing of total email may be the same or slightly slower.
>
> I have Max Children set to 5. Top shows 8-9 MailScanners running. Is this
> a
> problem or could it be multiple parents/children. This machine is pretty
> much maxed out when this happens. Maybe lower the Max Children, or
> increase
> the Queue Scan Interval from 5?
>
> Any help and suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> Steve Campbell
> campbell at cnpapers.com
> Charleston Newspapers
>
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